1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an airbag device for front passenger's seat including an airbag which is folded and housed in a case mounted on an instrument panel (as will be called “dashboard” hereinafter) in front of front passenger's seat, and is deployable rearward and toward an occupant when fed with inflation gas.
2. Description of Related Art
In the prior art, Japanese Laid-Open No. 2002-255004 discloses an airbag device for a front passenger's seat. In this airbag device, a rear side face of an airbag confronts a passenger and serves as a restraint face. The air bag is so folded and housed that the restraint face is broadly developed so as not to give partial pressure to the passenger. However, in the airbag device for the front passenger's seat in the prior art, the restraint face is arranged in substantially all areas of a rear side of the inflated airbag. In other words, a conventional airbag device for the front passenger's seat protects the occupant's head and breast with a wide and plane restraint face, and therefore, there was a room for improvement in properly protecting the occupant while suppressing a reaction force applied to the occupant when an inflated airbag engages an occupant. Especially when the breast of an occupant engages the restraint face of the inflated airbag prior to head, a part of the restraint face recesses while the other part protrudes, and thereby a tension is generated in all over the restraint face. This tension is liable to increase the reaction force applied to the occupant's head when a head engages the restraint face.
Moreover, since airbags usually inflate more widely in the vertical direction, in protecting a small-sized occupant, when the occupant engages a restraint face of an inflated airbag, the extra portion of the airbag above the occupant's head is pulled downward toward the occupant by a tension generated in all areas of the restraint face along with the engagement of the occupant, and is likely to press the occupant's head from above.